According to Google Ads, Smart Shopping campaigns were officially transitioned to Performance Max (PMax) by the end of 2022. This means that when referring to Smart Shopping campaigns, we are now talking about Performance Max, as PMax fully replaced all Smart Shopping campaigns at that time. However, Standard Shopping campaigns, a more manual version of the shopping campaign, still exist, and we’ll take a closer look at how they compare to PMax campaigns in this blog.
Since we have two options for shopping advertising, the debate between Performance Max and Standard Shopping Campaigns remains crucial for eCommerce businesses looking to optimize their advertising efforts and keep up with all the Google campaign changes. While Google has introduced Performance Max as a more advanced Smart Shopping campaign type, Standard Shopping campaigns still exist, leaving many advertisers wondering how to navigate these options effectively in 2025.
The Smart Shopping campaign has been upgraded to Performance Max. It has all the benefits of Smart Shopping, plus Performance Max offers expanded reach, AI-driven automation, and access to additional inventory across Google’s entire ecosystem, including Search, YouTube, Display, and Discover. With all these benefits, some businesses have already transitioned. However, Standard Shopping campaigns remain an option for those who prefer a more controlled approach focused primarily on Shopping and Display placements.
In this blog, we’ll clarify the key differences between Performance Max and Standard Shopping, why Google introduced Performance Max in the first place, and how to decide which campaign type best aligns with your goals. Whether you’re considering a shift to Performance Max or sticking with Standard Shopping, understanding these distinctions will help you optimize performance and maximize your return on ad spend in 2025.
Performance Max: The Next Evolution in Google Ads
Google officially launched Performance Max (PMax) on November 2, 2021. It became fully available to all advertisers in 2022 and completely replaced Smart Shopping and Local campaigns by September 2022.
Google Performance Max expands on the automation features of Smart Shopping while incorporating advanced AI-driven targeting and additional inventory placements. As a robust marketing solution, it enhances campaign effectiveness by utilizing automation insights, audience signals, and advanced machine learning to drive better results.
Performance Max (PMax) offers several advantages over traditional campaign types, especially Smart Shopping and Standard Shopping, by leveraging Google’s full inventory and AI-driven automation. Here’s why PMax can be better:
1. Multi-Channel Reach in a Single Campaign
Unlike Shopping or Search campaigns that focus on specific channel placements, PMax runs across all Google networks, including:
- Google Search
- Google Shopping
- Google Display Network (GDN)
- YouTube Ads
- Gmail Ads
- Google Discover
- Google Maps
- Google Play (for App campaigns)
This expands visibility beyond just Shopping results, maximizing reach and engagement across various touchpoints.
2. AI-Driven Automation & Optimization
Performance Max automates key aspects of campaign management, including bidding, targeting, creative selection, and ad placements, all powered by machine learning. It dynamically adjusts bids in real time to optimize for conversions, ensuring that the budget is allocated effectively.
Based on performance data, the platform also selects and serves the best combination of assets—headlines, descriptions, images, and videos. Additionally, PMax leverages Google’s audience signals and intent data to identify the most relevant users, maximizing the potential for engagement and conversion.
3. More Conversion-Driven Than Standard Shopping
Because Performance Max optimizes campaigns across multiple placements rather than focusing solely on Shopping ads, it prioritizes maximizing conversions and overall campaign value instead of just clicks or impressions.
Many advertisers see higher ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) due to its advanced bidding strategies, which intelligently distribute budget across Google’s network. Additionally, PMax helps lower CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) by using automation to refine targeting and bidding, ensuring that ads are shown to high-intent users who are more likely to convert.
4. Audience Expansion & Intent-Based Targeting
One of Performance Max’s most significant advantages is its ability to expand audience reach using Google’s AI-driven targeting. By leveraging first-party data—such as Customer Match lists, website visitors, and app users—PMax identifies and engages potential customers who closely resemble existing ones.
It also utilizes Google’s machine learning capabilities to create lookalike audiences, ensuring ads reach users with similar interests and behaviors. Furthermore, PMax incorporates in-market and affinity audience signals, helping advertisers target users actively searching for products or have shown interest in related categories.
5. Improved Creative Performance with Asset Groups
Unlike traditional Shopping campaigns, Performance Max allows advertisers to upload multiple variations of headlines, descriptions, images, and videos. Google’s AI then continuously tests and optimizes these creative elements to find the highest-performing combinations.
This removes manual A/B testing, allowing advertisers to scale their creative efforts efficiently while ensuring that ads are optimized for engagement and conversions.
6. Better Insights & Reporting
Search Term Insights
In the past, Smart Shopping campaigns had limited visibility into what users were actually searching for before clicking on an ad. Performance Max now provides search term insights, helping advertisers understand which queries are triggering their ads. This allows for better optimization by aligning ad copy and assets with high-performing search terms, ensuring that budgets are spent on the most relevant traffic.
Audience Signals
Unlike Smart Shopping, which relied purely on Google’s automation with little transparency, Performance Max allows advertisers to provide audience signals—such as customer lists, website visitors, or interest-based audiences—to guide Google’s machine learning. This gives advertisers more control over targeting while still benefiting from automation. The reporting feature shows how well these audience signals perform, allowing advertisers to refine their strategy based on real engagement and conversion data.
Asset Performance Reports
Smart Shopping campaigns offer limited insights into how individual ad assets (headlines, descriptions, images, videos) perform. With Performance Max, advertisers can see which creatives drive the highest engagement and conversions. This data helps make informed decisions on which assets to improve, replace, or scale, ultimately leading to more effective ad campaigns.
Overall, these improvements give advertisers better visibility and control over their campaigns, allowing them to make data-driven adjustments while leveraging Google’s automation for efficiency and performance.
7. Simplified Campaign Management
With automation handling many aspects of campaign management, Performance Max significantly reduces the need for manual adjustments. Advertisers no longer have to spend time manually adjusting bids, segmenting audiences, or setting up separate campaigns for different Google channels. This streamlined approach makes campaign management more efficient while still optimizing performance across the entire Google Ads ecosystem.
When PMax Might Not Be Better
Standard Shopping or Search campaigns may be a better option if you want full control over placements, keywords, and bidding. Also, If you only want shopping ads and not Display, YouTube or Gmail, PMax might waste money on non-shopping placements.
Understanding What Happened With Smart Shopping Campaigns
Google Smart Shopping Campaigns were designed as a simplified and automated approach to running Google Shopping Ads. These campaigns combined product ads with dynamic search ads, leveraging smart bidding to maximize conversion values while minimizing manual control.
Key Features of Smart Shopping Campaigns:
- Automated Optimization: Uses machine learning to optimize bids at auction time.
- Conversion Rate & Goals: Increasing sales conversion using target ROAS bidding.
- Single Campaign Management: Consolidates Standard Shopping Ads and 3P Display Ads into a single campaign.
- Audience Signals & Insights: Limited control over audience segmentation compared to newer alternatives.
- Automatic Upgrades: Has been replaced mainly by Performance Max Campaigns as Google continues automation advancements.
Despite the convenience, Smart Shopping Campaigns provide limited insights into search queries, product performance, and channel-specific performance, a significant challenge for business owners who need complete control over their advertising strategies.
Standard Shopping Campaigns: the Option for More Control
While Performance Max (PMax) leverages automation and multi-channel reach, Standard Shopping campaigns provide greater control and transparency, making them a preferred choice in certain situations. Here’s why:
1. Full Control Over Targeting and Placements
Unlike PMax, which automatically determines where and how ads appear, Standard Shopping campaigns allow complete control over bid strategies, audience targeting, and product segmentation.
Advertisers can decide which products get more budget allocation rather than relying on automated optimization. Ads only appear in Google Shopping, Google Search, and Search Partner Sites, avoiding placements on YouTube, Display, Gmail, or Discover, which might not drive the best return for eCommerce brands.
2. Transparency in Search Terms and Performance Data
PMax provides limited visibility into search terms and placements, making it difficult to know which keywords drive conversions.
Standard Shopping allows advertisers to see and analyze search term reports, helping them refine their targeting and eliminate irrelevant searches with negative keywords. More granular data allows for better manual optimizations, improving efficiency and performance.
3. More Control Over Bidding Strategies
Standard Shopping supports manual CPC bidding and various automated bid strategies, but unlike PMax, advertisers can:
- Set bids for different products, brands, or categories rather than relying on Google’s AI to distribute the budget.
- Exclude low-performing search queries or products that consume budget without driving conversions.
- Optimize for profit margins rather than just conversion volume, which is harder to do in PMax due to the lack of control over how Google distributes the budget.
4. More Predictability in Performance
With PMax, Google dynamically adjusts where and how ads appear, which can cause fluctuations in results. Standard Shopping campaigns, on the other hand, allow advertisers to run consistent tests, track performance more accurately, and scale based on proven data rather than black-box AI decisions.
Since ads only show in Shopping results and Searches, traffic quality can be higher and more relevant than PMax, which serves ads in placements like YouTube and Discover.
5. Better Budget Allocation Control
PMax automatically distributes the budget across all placements, often prioritizing high-volume but lower-converting channels like YouTube or Display.
Standard Shopping allows advertisers to manually control budget allocation based on which products or campaigns generate the highest ROI. More predictable spending means less wasted ad spend on underperforming placements.
6. More Flexibility in Campaign Structuring
Standard Shopping campaigns can be structured with separate ad groups for different product categories, brands, or SKUs, making optimization easier. Advertisers can apply different bidding strategies per category rather than having Google decide automatically.
For businesses with specific seasonality trends or promotional products, Standard Shopping allows better planning and control over ad delivery.
7. Stronger Brand Protection
With PMax, Google may serve ads on non-brand placements, which might dilute brand positioning. Standard Shopping allows businesses to bid separately on branded vs. non-branded queries, ensuring more precise control over messaging.
When Standard Shopping Might Not Be Better
If an advertiser wants full automation and AI-driven optimizations, or lacks time to manually optimize campaigns, PMax is the better option. Standard Shopping is limited if a business wants to maximize reach across all Google channels since it only appears on Search and Shopping.
How Campaign Goals Affect Placements in PMax vs. Standard Shopping Campaigns
When running Google Ads, choosing the right campaign goal significantly impacts where your ads appear. This is especially true for Performance Max (PMax) campaigns, which leverage Google’s entire inventory to optimize performance across multiple networks. Understanding how placements work in PMax and differ from Standard Shopping campaigns is essential for maximizing performance and ensuring ads appear in the most effective locations.
PMax is an AI-driven campaign that automates ad placements across Google’s entire ecosystem, including Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, and Discover. Unlike traditional Shopping campaigns, which primarily serve ads in Google Search and Shopping placements, PMax dynamically adjusts placements based on your campaign goal.
To better understand how this works, let’s examine how goal selection influences placements in PMax and compare it with Shopping campaigns.
Performance Max (PMax) Campaigns: How Goal Selection Affects Placements
PMax campaigns leverage Google’s AI-driven multi-channel approach, automatically adjusting placements based on your selected goal. Since PMax runs across Google’s entire inventory, changing the goal impacts how Google prioritizes placements and optimizes ad delivery.
Standard Shopping Campaigns: How Goal Selection Affects Placements
Shopping campaigns operate differently because they primarily serve ads in Google Search and Shopping placements. The impact of goal selection is less broad than that of PMax but still influences bidding and delivery.
Key Differences: PMax vs. Standard Shopping Based on Campaign Goals
Which Campaign Type is Best for Your Business?
When deciding between Performance Max (PMax) and Standard Shopping campaigns, you must consider your advertising goals, the level of control needed, and how much automation you want in your campaigns. Both options serve eCommerce businesses effectively, but they operate differently regarding placements, bidding strategies, and optimization methods.
When to Choose Performance Max
Performance Max is the best choice if you want a campaign that leverages Google’s full ecosystem, including Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Discover, and Maps. Unlike Standard Shopping, which is restricted to Shopping and Search results, PMax expands your reach across multiple Google properties, ensuring that your ads appear in front of the right users at different stages of their buying journey.
Another advantage of PMax is its AI-driven automation, which optimizes bids in real-time based on user intent, historical data, and conversion likelihood. If you have a limited budget and want to maximize efficiency, PMax’s automated bidding ensures that your ad spend is allocated where it is most likely to drive conversions. The campaign continuously tests and refines its asset combinations — headlines, descriptions, images, and videos — delivering the best-performing creatives to users.
PMax is particularly useful for businesses with complex marketing objectives that require advanced audience targeting. Google’s AI processes first-party data, intent signals, and lookalike audiences, helping advertisers reach high-intent users more effectively. Additionally, if your brand relies on video ads and dynamic creatives, PMax allows you to showcase video and display assets alongside traditional Shopping placements, which can increase engagement and conversion rates.
For businesses focused on scalability and automation, PMax simplifies campaign management by eliminating the need for manual bid adjustments and audience segmentation. It’s a powerful tool for advertisers looking for fully automated, AI-optimized performance across all Google properties.
When to Choose Standard Shopping
Standard Shopping campaigns are ideal for advertisers prioritizing control and transparency over automation. Unlike PMax, which automates targeting and budget distribution, Standard Shopping allows you to manually adjust bids, manage search terms, and control product-level budget allocation. This is crucial for businesses that want to optimize spending based on specific product categories, profit margins, or brand priorities.
One of the key advantages of Standard Shopping is its granular reporting. Advertisers can access search term insights, product-level performance data, and bid adjustments to refine targeting and improve efficiency. This level of transparency is particularly valuable for businesses that need to analyze conversion paths, identify high-performing keywords, and exclude irrelevant search queries.
For brands that sell private-label or best-selling products, Standard Shopping provides a structured and predictable way to manage advertising without relying on Google’s automation. Since ads only appear in Google Search and Shopping results, there’s no risk of the budget being allocated to lower-intent placements like YouTube or Display, which can sometimes happen with PMax.
Standard Shopping can also be a practical choice if you prefer a simplified approach with minimal campaign adjustments. Many businesses use 1-2 campaigns with Target ROAS (tROAS) bidding to drive consistent sales without managing complex multi-channel optimization. This is especially useful for seasonal promotions, such as holiday sales or office supply campaigns, where you want a straightforward way to maximize conversions within a specific timeframe.
Final Considerations
- Performance Max is the best option if you want AI-driven automation and maximum exposure across all Google networks.
- Standard Shopping is the better choice if you need control over bidding, search terms, and product segmentation.
- For businesses focused on branding and discovery-based traffic, PMax can be highly effective due to its cross-channel targeting and dynamic asset optimization.
- If your goal is sales-driven performance with predictable costs and unambiguous attribution, Standard Shopping allows you to fine-tune campaigns based on direct search demand.
Ultimately, the best approach depends on your business goals, resources, and willingness to rely on automation vs. manual control. Some advertisers successfully run both PMax and Standard Shopping campaigns simultaneously, using PMax to capture upper-funnel demand and Standard Shopping for precise lower-funnel conversion targeting.
